Cougars Finish Conference Sweep Over Long Beach

Hillary Wallace | BYU Athletic Communications | Posted Jan 31, 2004

LONG BEACH -- In another exciting five-game match, the No. 7 BYU men's volleyball team rallies to hand No. 2 Long Beach State its second conference loss of the season, 3-2 (30-27, 39-37, 31-29, 30-27, 15-13). The Cougars improve to 5-3 (3-1 conf.) while the 49ers fall to 7-3 (3-2 conf.).

"It was nice to battle them again and come out on top," head coach Tom Peterson said. "It makes you a little tougher knowing that you can win in five games. They are a good team and we couldn't relax against them. We made some crucial errors that let them back into the game, but I'm just glad we could pick up two wins on the road."

Lasting almost three hours, BYU and LBSU battled through until the end, bringing 1,089 fans at the Pyramid to their feet. Winning the first two games, the Cougars had the advantage going into the third game after finishing the second at 39-37. But LBSU didn't give up too easily, coming back from a 2-0 deficit and taking the match to five games.

BYU led the entire fifth game in a grueling 15-13 final, as senior Fernando Pessoa and newcomer Victor Batista hit the last points for the win.

Leading the BYU squad was seniors Jonathan Alleman and Pessoa with 20 and 22 kills respectively. Pessoa again broke his career high in kills, while Alleman posted another double-double performance with his highest kills for the season and 11 digs. Batista came up big for the Cougars again in the middle, tying his career-best 18 kills in 36 attempts and adding eight blocks.

Junior setter Carlos Moreno paced BYU with 73 assists for the match, his highest for the season. He also picked up eight digs and five blocks for the Cougars. Senior Chris Gorny posted a match-high nine blocks along with 11 kills, registering a .409 and committing only two hitting errors.